For most of the fall, the imminent 60 Minutes reshuffle looked simple to predict—a binary choice between the long-serving CBS journalist and 48 Hours executive producer Susan Zirinsky, and Bill Owens, a seasoned 60 Minutes veteran chosen to run the crown-jewel newsmagazine on an interim basis following the September defenestration of Jeff Fager, who was ousted as executive producer during the height of CBS Corporation’s messy internal-culture crisis. Many at CBS were convinced that the job would go to Zirinsky, partly thanks to her decorated résumé and legendary stature within the network—she started there as a college student in the Watergate-era Washington bureau and worked her way up through the ranks, inspiring the 1987 rom-com classic Broadcast News along the way. There was also a sense that CBS management would want to inject some new blood into the news division’s most vaunted franchise, whereas Owens, though highly capable and qualified, had been Fager’s No. 2, and therefore might look too much like the status quo.

But after CBS’s tumultuous year, rumors began to suggest even more radical change. Not long before the Christmas holiday, one plugged-in source told me a new theory was percolating: Owens would become the next executive producer of 60 Minutes, and Zirinsky would become the next president of CBS News. That, of course, would leave David Rhodes, CBS News president for eight years, as the odd man out.

On Sunday night, acting CBS C.E.O. Joseph Ianniello made the second part of this prophecy come true by announcing that Zirinsky, after 46 years of service, would be the first woman to lead the news division in the network’s history. Starting in March, she will succeed Rhodes, whose contract is nearly up. After the news became public, Rhodes said on Twitter that “it’s the right time for me to make a change.” Likewise, in Ianniello’s Sunday-night e-mail to staff, he wrote, “David Rhodes has decided the time is right to move on to new opportunities.”

Rhodes, whose tenure included shake-ups at CBS Evening News and CBS This Morning—the latter stemming from Charlie Rose’s #MeToo-driven removal from the program in late 2017—will become an adviser to Ianniello and CBS News after the transition. The decision for him to leave played out over the last few weeks and was finalized in recent days, according to someone familiar with the matter. Given the challenges facing the news division, a leadership change is not surprising. Ratings-wise, CBS News has slipped in its competitive set in recent seasons, and audiences still haven’t adjusted to lineup changes that Rhodes made over the past couple of years to the morning and evening programs. In other words, CBS News needs to get its mojo back, and Zirinsky, with decades’ worth of producer chops, is arguably better positioned to execute that than Rhodes, whose background is more in management. In her official unveiling interview, Zirinsky told the Los Angeles Times, “My whole approach is as a producer and that’s what will differentiate us.” (Rhodes didn’t return a message.)

The move was bold, especially for an interim leader like Ianniello—a genuine post-#MeToo culture adjustment—and it was incredibly well-received at the network. “I can’t even articulate to you what a home run this is,” one CBS News insider told me. “You can’t find a constituency, other than David’s management team, that isn’t happy about this.” Zirinsky and Rhodes convened a meeting in the main CBS newsroom on Monday morning, where Zirinsky addressed the troops for the first time. People who were there described her speech as inspiring, and she got vigorous applause, which Evening News anchor Jeff Glor captured in a photo that he posted to Twitter, along with a snippet from Zirinsky’s remarks: “It’s time. Come with me.”

Nonetheless, Zirinsky’s got her work cut out for her. For starters, she will be the one to appoint a new executive producer for 60 Minutes, which is said to be the news division’s most lucrative property. An Owens succession would now appear to be more likely, though still not certain, according to sources at the show. (Owens and Zirinsky are friendly, for what it’s worth, and she speaks highly of him.) But 60 Minutes, which has been ticking along with a strong 51st season despite the Fager fallout, is arguably the least of Zirinsky’s problems. “She’s got a morning show to fix,” one of my CBS News sources said. CBS This Morning has been without an executive producer since last month’s departure of Ryan Kadro, a shuffle that insiders say wasn’t handled well. The show’s ratings have been notably down, and some viewers would argue it hasn’t found its footing since the Charlie Rose scandal threw its chemistry out of whack. (Rose was replaced by John Dickerson, and a fourth co-host, Bianna Golodryga, was added.) CBS This Morning, along with 60 Minutes, is a top moneymaker for the news division, which is why its revival is seen as a priority for Zirinsky. “It’s all about the morning,” another CBS News insider echoed. Daily viewership in the morning and evening alike is problematic for CBS News at the moment, a challenge that was thrown into stark relief by the network’s tepid performance on the night of the midterm elections, when the other networks’ ratings were all up, CBS journalists told me. Zirinsky is the person CBS is now counting on to turn those fortunes around.

Her appointment also would appear to be another point on the scorecard of Ianniello, who has been credited with deftly reorganizing the company’s executive ranks following the ignominious departure of disgraced longtime C.E.O. Les Moonves. Ianniello is vying to shed the “acting” portion of his C.E.O. title while the company’s board conducts a search that includes external candidates, so it doesn’t hurt to have another P.R. win under his belt, and Zirinsky’s elevation is just that. As Irin Carmon, one of the first journalists to report on CBS’s #MeToo issues, put it in a tweet, “What a twist: after the departures of Moonves, Fager, and Rose after allegations of assault, harassment, and/or hostile environment for women, the inspiration for Broadcast News’s brilliant, nuanced lead character takes over.”

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